There is no real need to enter into a scientific discussion over the age of puberty because we are not actually speaking here of a normal human being. We are speaking of a sacred individual, to whom normal standards do not apply. Nevertheless, you may like to note that it is barely 120 years since the religious stipulation that a Hindu woman had to be married before the age of 8, was removed.
The installation ceremony that I mean is actually that secret part of the Daijô sai where the Emperor communes with the Imperial Ancestor, Amaterasu. Although the exact nature of the ceremony involved during the secret part of the ritual, during which time the Emperor is alone with Amaterasu, several commentators have pointed out that it involves a fertility rite that only a male can perform. I am sure that act does not need to be spelled out.
--Previous Message--
:
: Seeing that several of them even abdicated
: (having full rights of retirement before
: they turned 20 or 18 or so, what does
: "coming of age" specifically mean
: in the question?
: Presumably it cannot mean 18 or around that,
: but must be lower.
:
: Is your "coming of age" implying
: an age of early puberty, possibly?
:
: What actually was customary Japanese age of
: majority to the monarch?
:
: What specific installation act do you mean?
: The thing called "sokui" or
: something else?
:
: An act of installation, afaik, is that when
: the new monarch starts to use the regalia,
: particularly those mirrors.
: As much as I am aware, even very young of
: them held those regalia. Some occasions
: appear to be famous in their own right.
:
: Finally, seeing that there were fairly often
: very underage incumbent monarchs, what is
: the evidence of who performed annual rites
: and ceremonies (particularly those which
: required fertility) during their childhood.
: Any evidence that other males than purely
: male-line descendants of the dynasty,
: occasionally were performing some of such?
: Evidence of other performers of fertility
: rites (from within the dynasty) than the
: incumbent?
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: That there were boy monarchs is without
: doubt,
: but how many of them that you mention had
: actually gone through the installation
: ceremony before coming of age, if any?
:
:
:
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